Basketball Sports

Archive for October, 2009

After waiting what seemed like a lifetime, I finally had the opportunity to enjoy a match of tennis on a grass surface last summer. Having visited the tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island, there were a number of courts on the premise that were available for rent.

Boy, was it an experience. Unlike many things in this world, my experience here actually lived up to my expectations. I felt as if I was playing the sport in a completely different way.

Grass is the original surface that tennis was born on, hence its use at the Hall of Fame in Newport. The only major Grand Slam event that you’ll see these courts being used for is Wimbledon, played in London every summer.

This is the favorite event of many tennis fans, and it certainly holds a special place in my heart. Players treasure the surface just as much, and the strategy definitely changes when it comes to playing on grass.

Here are a few things that you should know if you’ll be playing a match on this court type.

First of all, the ball moves far more quickly than it would on a clay or hard surface. In fact, it often skids once it lands, barely bouncing. This makes it difficult to return shots, especially if they’re sliced.

When you tell someone that you bet on horses for a living it is amazing to see their reaction. I remember at one party this very proper woman looked at me and said “But you look so normal”. I am not sure whether to take that as a compliment or not.

The point is that most people have a lot of misconceptions about gambling and horse racing in particular. Some believe it is just a case of picking a horse out with a pin whilst other think that if a horse is favourite it must win so all you have to do is back the favourite. Oh if it was so easy.

Backing the favourite in every race is a certain route to the poor house. Statistically favourites only win about a third of the races and as they are usually at short prices it is impossible to make a profit. Of course you could be more selective and only back favourites in certain types of race were they have a better record for winning favourites.

I do most of my betting in the UK and I think if you want to back favourites the best bet is to back the market leader at Chepstow in a 4Year old Stakes race where they have had a 67% success rate or the same at Chester where they have a 65% record. The Chepstow statistics are a little suspect as there have only been 3 qualifiers and 2 winners.

Another approach is to look for longer priced horse which if successful will give you a good return for your bet. This is probably as good an approach as any if you are just going for a day at the races and a bit of fun. However, trying to consistently find long priced winners is not very easy and a lot have people have gone broke trying.